The Guide to Ghost Culture
by Aurora Borealis 97
Summary: What I think ghost culture contains, sorted by category. I set it up in an 'element of culture - example' format. I hope you like it! R&R!
1. Gestures & Manners

**Right, this is in a format that first states the tradition, gesture, rule, or otherwise, and then gives an example. Hope you like it! I'll add things a lot!**

* * *

**Gestures & Manners**

* * *

- Ghost culture demands that, in a social setting, a ghost must sink below the level of another ghost and fade into half-visibility if the other ghost is of a higher rank. This is a sign of deference.

* * *

Danny's eyes widened as the ghostly knight sank below his level in the air and half faded, in a kneeling position of respect. Remembering what Frostbite told him, he nodded in acknowledgement and the knight rose, returning to level out with him. He then began to talk as if nothing had occurred, addressing him as 'Sir Phantom'. The knight was under Dora's rule and explained what Dora had told him to say, which involved the punishment of Aragon, who had been imprisoned in the dungeons. Danny nodded and the knight returned to Aragon.

* * *

- Never ask a ghost what their Obsession is.

* * *

"Hey, Danny," started Sam. "what's your Obsession? I've been wondering ever since you mentioned that all ghosts had one, even half-ghosts."

Danny turned and scowled. "Sam. Never, _ever _ask a ghost what their Obsession is. It's impolite."

She blinked, then flushed. "Sorry. I didn't know that."

Then he sighed. "Fine. My Obsession is to protect. It's less serious, because I'm half-ghost instead of a full ghost, but my life still revolves around it and things related to it. But never ask a ghost what their Obsession is, Sam, for your health."

She sighed. "Fine."

* * *

- Do not enter a ghost's lair uninvited.

* * *

Danny rushed into a random door, running away. A boy slowly turned from a static screen he was watching intently.

He stood. "Get. Out. Of! My! ROOM!" he growled, turning more into a monster with every word.

"Sorry, sorry!" Danny yelped, hurrying out and slamming the door.

* * *

- Social classes are power-based.

* * *

"So what's the social pyramid of ghosts like?" asked Jazz, interested.

"It's power-based. Mindless ghosts are at the bottom, ghosts like the Box Ghost are right above it, then ghosts like Technus and Bertrand, then ghosts like Skulker, Spectra, and Hotep-Ra, and at the top are ghosts like the Ancients, Clockwork, Vortex, Undergrowth, and Dan."

"Where are you?"

"Somewhere between the top level and the one below it, as far as I can tell."

"Wow, Danny. A social pyramid where you _aren't _at the bottom," Jazz teased. He frowned.

* * *

- A gift you made yourself is the best expression of gratitude.

* * *

The day after Dora helped Sam get out of the castle, Danny made an ice model of Dora lifting the crown from Sam's head and left it outside her castle on behalf of Sam. When Dora found it, she smiled.

* * *

- When a human would applaud, ghosts also applaud, but their hands glow and explode with intangible light.

* * *

Watching Technus and Skulker battle in a friendly fight, Danny applauded with glowing hands as Skulker pinned Technus to the ground right in the middle of one of his speeches. Light exploded throughout the audience as Skulker was declared the winner.

* * *

- A ghost, in greeting, would shake hands like a human, but, if they intend to be friendly, their hands will glow with intangible light.

* * *

Danny lit his hand and held it up questioningly. The other ghost nodded, lit his hand, and held it out. Danny smiled and shook it.

"I'm Danny. Danny Phantom."

"I'm Icarus," said the other.

* * *

- A gesture of challenge is to shoot a warning shot over their shoulder or head.

* * *

Danny floated forward and ducked as a warning shot nearly fried his head. He whipped around and spotted Skulker, who was smirking, ready to begin another round.

* * *

- The traditional sign of submission is to drop down and/or land, halting all power usage.

* * *

Danny bowed his head and dropped to the bottom of the arena, submitting in the training session with Pandora, exhausted from the strong fight. If he was allowed to use his thermos, he would have won long ago, but it was harder when you had to fight till submission. He landed and looked up at Pandora, who landed after him and smiled.

"Excellent work."

* * *

**Right, so that's the first chapter of the Guide to Ghost Culture. This was born when I decided to figure out how a ghost's mind would work - it obviously wouldn't work just like a human mind, and therefore, neither would Danny's, Dani's, Vlad's, or Jamie's.**


	2. Common Beliefs & Knowledge

**Right, this is in a format that first states the tradition, gesture, rule, or otherwise, and then gives an example. Hope you like it! I'll add things a lot!**

* * *

**Common Beliefs & Knowledge**

* * *

- Openly displayed emotion is a weakness.

* * *

Walker swooped down and picked Sam up from the crowd of watching humans.

"This one ought to make a good hostage, punk."

"Let her go!" Danny yelled angrily.

"Punk, that emotion of your is gonna be your undoing." Walker said, tossing Sam down and Danny charged.

"Sam!"

* * *

- Each ghost believes themselves to be the strongest. Telling them otherwise is an insult of epic proportions, no matter how many times you beat them in battle.

* * *

"Stop laughing at me!" The Box Ghost snapped yet again.

"Make us, ya weakling!" replied one of the many random ghosts.

"I am the BOX GHOST! You will all FEAR ME!"

"Nice try!"

The Box Ghost's eyes glowed red with anger and boxes flew everywhere.

* * *

- Most ghosts just want to be left alone.

* * *

Danny looked around at all the ghosts just doing their own thing, and sighed. How could the humans think that all ghosts were evil? Most just wanted to be left alone. They just wanted to fulfill their Obsessions in peace.

So how could the humans make assumptions like that?

* * *

- Humans believe themselves to be superior to ghosts.

* * *

"I'll get you yet, you ectoplasmic manifestation of post-human consciousness and sub-human morals!" shouted Maddie. Danny rolled his eyes and sighed. His parents really had no idea how vastly inferior they were to ghosts. Ghosts had much more time to mature, to adapt, and had every inch of possibility that humans did. The main way that they were inferior was that they were distracted from their potential to do anything unrelated to their Obsession.

He remembered his parents' rants about ghosts - it had always been so _obvious _how superior they believed themselves to be. They were wrong.

Humans seem to believe that they are vastly superior to anything non-human, even if it was sentient. Why?

* * *

- Humans are not driven by an Obsession.

* * *

The latest patrol finished, Sam and Tucker immediately switched mental gears. Sam moved straight on to homework and Tucker started fiddling with his PDA.

Danny sighed and wished it was that easy for him. But, unfortunately, even if the drive to fulfill his Obsession was slightly stifled by his human half, he still felt that burning need to do it. He tried to settle down and do his homework, but he kept worrying about whether or not there were any ghosts that he wasn't out there to fight. What if someone got hurt?

He sighed. Sam and Tucker didn't have to deal with this. They didn't know how lucky they were.

* * *

- Humans are usually easily hurt/scared.

* * *

Dan grinned with sadistic pleasure as he picked a human up and easily tossed him into a wall, breaking his fragile human body. Every ghost knew that compared with them, even the most durable human was little more than an eggshell in comparison. And as easily scared as a doe in an open field.

* * *

- Ghosts are educated in fighting and general useful knowledge.

* * *

Danny flew over the ghost high school. In the back, where his school would have a football field, lay an arena, where ghosts were practicing fighting. Inside, he knew that useful knowledge, such as how to tell when and where another ghost was from, was being learned. Lucky ghosts, they didn't have to learn useless stuff. He himself had gone there for six months, attending during the night in a six-month truce he had managed to negotiate with his usual enemies. Surprisingly, they had complied. Apparently it was common courtesy to allow ghosts to attend _some _school, even half-ghosts.

* * *

- Ghosts are payed in tkhiel (teh-key-el), ghost money.

* * *

Danny handed the ghostly shopkeeper some tkhiel. He waved, taking back the food to show his friends. Maybe they'd now learn that ghost food was _not _different from human food. It seemed normal enough, even though it had a ghostly glow about it, it didn't come alive like his parents' food did.

* * *

- Ghosts' lairs are gained when they die. If they are half ghost, they have to see Clockwork and ask about it.

* * *

Danny sighed happily as he looked about his lair. He really did like it - it was perfect. Blue and starry. It looked like the furniture was floating in space. Everything did. He was really glad by now that he had asked Clockwork about getting a lair. Dani, too.

* * *

**Right, so that's the second chapter of the Guide to Ghost Culture. Please, R&R! Suggestions are welcome!**


	3. Traditions

**Right, this is in a format that first states the tradition, gesture, rule, or otherwise, and then gives an example. Hope you like it! I'll add things a lot!**

* * *

**Traditions**

* * *

- On Christmas Day, a truce is held. There is also a Christmas party.

* * *

Danny walked into the place that held the Christmas party this year. He chuckled to himself. Valerie had been patrolling all day - she didn't know about the Christmas truce. He knew not to bother.

"Hi!" he said.

"Now the party can begin!" replied a ghost.

One day of no fights, then the havoc would begin again. Plus, there wasn't any rhyming this year!

* * *

- Every Halloween, it is traditional to go scare the humans.

* * *

Danny patrolled around on Halloween night. Ghosts were everywhere, scaring the humans all they could. They did it even more on Halloween then on any other day. It made his job that much harder.

Still... he turned invisible and spoke in Jazz's ear.

"Boo!" he yelled, gripping her shoulder out of nowhere. She screamed.

Then, "Danny!"

He grinned. "It's traditional for ghosts to scare humans on Halloween night," he reminded her, turning visible and grinning. She glared.

"Ghost traditions don't apply to you!"

"Actually..." he faded out as he spoke, ready to go scare Tucker. "They do."

* * *

- An annual game of ghostball on November 21st.

* * *

Danny looked at the rule sheet in his hand.

GHOSTBALL

Objective: Be the last ghost floating.

Rules: All powers applicable. If you are hit by any form of ectoplasmic energy, you're out. No equipment.

Teams: Every ghost for themselves.

Fouls: None.

He grinned to himself. This might be fun.

* * *

- DEathdays are celebrated by a one-day truce with the ghost holding the deathday and presents.

* * *

It was September 17th. Exactly one year after the Portal accident. Danny sighed. One year since his life had changed. His parents had somehow _not _noticed that he hadn't grown an inch. He probably would be found out in the next year - his clueless parents were bound to notice eventually. Then his ghost sense went off and he sighed as the Box Ghost phased in.

"Happy Deathday!" bellowed the Box Ghost, startling Danny. He presented Danny with a box, which revealed more boxes upon being opened. He looked up at the Box Ghost, who zoomed back to the portal with another, "Happy Deathday, Phantom!"

* * *

- An annual weightlifting contest is held on June 5th.

* * *

Danny struggled to hold up his burden, which had, by now, reached seven hundred pounds. Finally, he phased out from under it as he let the weight go. He had not won.

Proudly, Dora, in her dragon form, phased out from under her load and was declared the winner. Danny clapped along with everyone else, hands exploding with bright light, happy for his friend.

* * *

- An annual combat tournament will take place on January 11th.

* * *

Danny dueled with Skulker in the final round of the tournament. Neither side was giving up, but both sides were tiring. After another half hour of fighting, Danny hit the suit's head just right and pulled out the small form of Skulker. He blasted away the ectosuit and let go of Skulker, who dropped below him and landed in submission. He had won.

* * *

**Right, so that's the third chapter of the Guide to Ghost Culture. Please, R&R! Suggestions are welcome!**


	4. Battle Tactics

**Right, this is in a format that first states the tradition, gesture, rule, or otherwise, and then gives an example. Hope you like it! I'll add things a lot!**

* * *

**Battle Tactics**

* * *

- Witty Banter, diversionary tactic; common.

* * *

"Hey, Ghost Zone's Smallest Hunter!" Danny yelled, distracting Skulker from his intended prey, the blond boy.

Skulker growled. "I am the Greatest Hunter in the Ghost Zone, whelp, and I will have your pelt!"

"Ew! Never gonna happen, Skulker!"

Dash looked from one to the other, confused. They weren't even fighting yet, just talking. Why weren't they fighting?

* * *

- Aerial Battle, battle setting; common.

* * *

Danny turned as a warning shot flew over his shoulder. The Lunch Lady was waiting and Danny shot up, forcing the Lunch Lady to follow. There, they fought in midair, diving and rising and hitting.

* * *

- Underground battle, battle setting & diversionary tactic; rare.

* * *

Near the ground, fighting Walker, Danny dove underground, followed by Walker, and there they fought briefly with intangible blows to each other, neither turning solid. Quickly, they rose back up, but Danny had gotten his wish - there was a little less property damage and the people had cleared out.

* * *

- Invisible sneak attack, hit tactic & evasion tactic; semicommon.

* * *

"Where did you go, whelp?" yelled Skulker, turning in circles as he tried to find his prey, accidentally forgetting about his 'whelp tracker'. Suddenly, and invisible blow knocked his mechanical head from his mechanical shoulders.

* * *

- Smashdown, hit tactic; common.

* * *

Danny dove down at Desiree from above, hitting her from above and causing her to fly into the ground at a high speed, impacting it and creating a crater.

* * *

- Wrestling, hit tactic; semicommon.

* * *

Ember and Danny flew at each other and collided in midair, there hands bracing each against the other, each struggling for superiority. They both pushed against the other, attempting to toss them aside or push them down. It was a contest of strength and will.

* * *

- Grab and toss, hit tactic; common.

* * *

Danny suddenly grabbed Bertrand from behind and tossed him into the brick wall behind them, stunning the currently-blob ghost.

* * *

- Ground smash, hit tactic; uncommon.

* * *

Danny gripped Youngblood, who attempted to escape his grasp, and dove toward the ground at full speed, turning them both intangible. Just as they reached the ground, he let go of Youngblood, who immediately turned tangible and promptly smashed into the ground, while Danny just phased through it, pulling back up and phasing right back out of the ground.

* * *

- Through-the-wall/floor, hit tactic; common.

* * *

Walker looked around and then got hit in the jaw by a punch from Danny as Danny phased up from under him, fist first.

* * *

**Right, battle tactics! XD Love those, no idea why... hope you liked them too! R&R! Bye! Suggestions welcome!**


	5. Rules

**Right, this is in a format that first states the tradition, gesture, rule, or otherwise, and then gives an example. Hope you like it! I'll add things a lot!**

* * *

**Rules**

* * *

- You may not end a sentient ghost.

* * *

-You may not wreck utter havoc in the Real World or the Ghost Zone.

* * *

- If you bring in a Real World item, you must return said item to the Real World within a week.

* * *

- If there is a large group of 10 or more extremely similar ghosts, they must live in the same area and have a leader. Mindless ghosts are not included in this.

* * *

**That's the last one. It sucks, I know, but I'm finished with this more. I may update it if I get some good suggestions. Not update as in new chapter, that's unlikely, but the weird little replace-chapter button thing. That. R&R! Bye!**


	6. NOTICE

**NOTICE**

**K, I forgot to mention earlier, ANYBODY can use these culture components in their stories. Just be sure to give me credit. XD Bye!**


	7. Flag, Charms, Familiar

**Right, this is in a different format. It first states the element, which are isolated and so random, then the definition thing, i.e. flag-description. I'll do some other random things of old sorts too, since I don't really need to rewrite old chapters and no one will see the changes if I do anyways. I am also taking away the 'complete' status of this story, as it seems doomed to perpetual updates. XD Also, most of these things were either found on or based on stuff from 's generators.**

* * *

**Random**

* * *

- Flag

* * *

The flag is a rectangle with three uneven vertical stripes of pale gold, pale blue and tan, and a triangle of yellow-orange on the left. The emblem is an arrowhead and a club.

* * *

- Good luck charms

* * *

A bronze ring, with a setting of ice. A charm for suppressed emotion.

A silver ring, with a setting of solid ectoplasm. A charm for power.

A gold necklace, with gold charms displaying a sword, an eagle, and a lion. A charm for strength.

A platinum bracelet, with platinum charms displaying a clock, a glowing drop of ectoplasm, a tongue of flame, a rock, a drop of water, a cloud, a lightning bolt, a glowing sphere, a sun, and a sound wave. A charm for the blessings of the Ten.

A silver pair of earrings, with amethyst settings. A charm for healing, physical, mental, and emotional.

A white gold ring, with a rose quartz setting. A charm for manifestation and the balance of yin and yang.

A white gold pair of earrings, with a moonstone setting. A charm for manifestation and feminine balance of yin and yang.

A gold bracelet, with a silver charm inset with lapis lazuli. A charm for wisdom.

* * *

- Familiars (i.e. animal companions which increase effectiveness of ghost powers)

* * *

It is traditional for a ghost to receive a familiar from their closest ghost friend on their second deathday.

**(I will soon do a story where Danny and Jamie celebrate their second deathdays)**

* * *

**Right, so that's the Guide to Ghost Culture continued. I need to go do that story now. I do acknowledge the extreme shortness of this chapter, and I'll update again once I think up more stuff. Bye! R&R!**


	8. Announcement

**OK, I apologize for the fact that, even after this wait, that this is not a real chapter. I'll delete this later... Anyway, this is an announcement putting EVERYTHING on a short-term hiatus. I will not update anything until summer break begins. By then, I hope to have at least one chapter ready for everything, plus some new short stories, possibly finished. Again, I'm sorry. Oh, and NO FLAMES! Statuses of stories below, for those who want to know. I have the general priority order planned out.**

* * *

Started Stories

**Feuglacian: **Minimum priority. I won't work on this for a while - it isn't even a real story.

**Ghostly Legends: **Low priority. I won't work on this much, but I will whenever I think of something interesting.

**The Tridemi Tournament: **High priority - this is the second one I hope to get done, after Hiding Something. The latest chapter is scheduled for a rewrite to obey an excellant suggestion of XOver Queen's, and to satisfy readers slightly more. STOP FLAMING ME NOW!

**The Second Deathday: **Medium-low priority. Is remaining a oneshot, but I'm rewriting it. It sucks.

**The Guide to Ghost Culture: **Low priority. I have to think of culture to post it, right?

**Aftermath of a Ghost Invasion: **Medium-high priority. Bit busy with other stories and irritated by utter lack of ideas and writing time. I regained the time, though. I just got smacked in the face with a wad of Science homework a mile long...

**Of Ghostly Teens and Magic Things: **High priority. Is also scheduled for a minor rewrite to conform with some new stuff I'm making up, and to improve it a bit. Nothing like the last rewrite though.

**A Hidden World: **Medium priority. Wow, been a while since I updated this. Don't worry, though, I've just been busy with other stories. I haven't given up yet.

**Hiding Something: **First priority. Been blocked for a while now, actually. Working on that.

**The Halfa Siblings: **Medium priority. Scheduled for a rewrite and proper continuation... i.e. not skipping a million episodes, just the ones I REALLY don't like...

**Artemis Fowl: The Ghost and the Fairy: **Minimal priority. If I get a load more then I expect done before summer break, I'll reactivate it. Otherwise, it's remaining on hiatus until I have less then five active stories (meaning storyline-containing stories). Minor rewrite.

**Obsessions: **Low priority. Becoming a two-shot. Weird, huh?

**The Phantom of the Icemark: **Minimal priority. Being converted to a hiatus. No longer discontinued - It'll become reactivated under the same conditions as Artemis Fowl: The Ghost and the Fairy. Minor rewrite.

**Gallery of Scenes and Challanges: **Minimal priority. Need I explain? Most of my random ideas now either get written in my journal and tossed, or written in my journal and turned into a full-on story.

**Invader Phantom: **Low priority. Me and FrozenWaffle don't do this much, actually...

**Zim's Horrible Year at Hogwarts:** Unknown priority, since it's FrozenWaffles. Possible sequel!

* * *

**New Stories**

**Ghost Hunters in the Lair of the Twins: **Involves Jamie. Danny and Jamie find an island similar to Skulker's, with mixed ghost and live wildlife living there, instead of a giant skull. They make it their own, but when Jack and Maddie track Phantom and Shade to their precious island full of perfectly studiable ghost afterlife, what will happen?

**Learning to Heal: **Cashing in the favor she gave Danny when doing his ghost hunting for a week, Jamie asks an equal favor when she developes a new power and with it, a new sub-Obsession. One-shot.

**Ghostly School: **Danny and Jamie attend Plasma Post-Death - ghost school.

**In the Distant Desert: **An in-depth introduction to Heatstroke and her people.

**In the Far Frozen: **An in-depth reintroduction to Frostbite and his people.

* * *

**That's all. Again, I apologize, but this'll make it easier later... probably. After all, it wouldn't do for me to get grounded for a month due to bad grades founded by the inability to juggle school and a million stories, now, would it?**

**...**

**Bye.**


End file.
